Talk:Vladimir/@comment-4878039-20120711090656/@comment-76.126.210.236-20120716070441
Just because of the concept he's based off of, it's really hard for Riot to make Vlad UP. I mean, they would have to REALLY ramp up his health cost and cooldowns and kill his damage. I mean, after all, he's a caster who doesn't depend on Mana. That's always going to be strong, or at least viable. If anyone ever calls Vlad OP, it's because he's very tanky for a caster because of his passive and W, and because of the awesome spammability on his Q and E (his Q is no cost while his E has a tiny cost mid-late game, while both have 4 second CD's without any CDR). But his tankiness and sustainability are a trade-in for burst damage, which he lacks. At 500 AP (usually what you'll have if you've fully built standard AP), hitting a Q and a 4 stack E will still only deal 1000 damage (a bit more if they're marked with your ult), and your ult will only deal about 900 when it ends. That's pretty puny compared to say, Veigar or Malzahar. That being said, you can spam that Q/E combo every 4 seconds as much as you want, creating amazing lane presence (if you've got 4 stacks, an E should be able to kill every minion in the wave), and if you can whittle them down low enough with your Q and E you can chase with troll-pool and your ult for the kill. Now, let's talk about how Vlad scales. Well, to start out, he's good early game, no matter what people say. You'll only ever have to base for items because of the no cost and heal from Transfusion, and can easily avoid ganks with Sanguine Pool. Basically, you'll be 100% okay if you just spam Transfusion. Mid game (around level 12, I consider it to be mid game) you start to ramp things up, especially if you've managed to farm well and pick up some kills. Transfusion still has that great spammability, and around level 14 you'll have enough HP and Spell Vamp to make Tides pretty spammable as well. Pool still helps you avoid ganks. Overall, mid game is essentially the same as early game, only you can also spam Tides. Late game, well, regardless of what people might say, Vlad's great. His ult really sets the stage for great nukes from your teammates, and it also does good damage at the end, too. You can now use Tides arbitrarily and Pool + your health will make you ungankable. Like I said before, your Q and E are spammable and, of course, you never need to worry about mana. Last but not least, since Vlad's so great at farming last hits, you'll be farm-fed and, depending on the game, may be kill-fed too. And, plus, Vlad is pretty good with any team comp, and I should add that he's best suited for solo top. You probably shouldn't try to mid with him because he lacks burst and gets pushed around by other AP champions like Karthus early game. And bot with a lanemate isn't a great option either because then you won't get the XP you need to shine mid/late game. So, really, solo top is the place for Vlad. All in all, Vlad's balanced. He trades burst damage for tankiness and spammability, and well..yeah. he's balanced.